


paragon

by TheFreakWithTheWings



Series: Word a Day [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 16:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17389829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreakWithTheWings/pseuds/TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: paragon: a model of excellence or perfectionWhen he was younger, Sasuke had always looked up to his brother, always chased after his shadow.





	paragon

When he was younger, Sasuke had always looked up to his brother, always chased after his shadow. After all, Itachi was the pinnacle of what a shinobi was supposed to be, so it only made sense that Sasuke wanted to be just like him. His father's rare encouragements usually only came when he managed to be like his older brother too.

However, the massacre changed everything.

Sasuke woke up in the hospital bed, his head aching and his eyes burning, feeling like half of his chest had been scooped out and then set on fire in front of him. Itachi had killed everyone in order to test his capacity, and now his brother wanted him to grow up to be strong enough to test himself against. It was a nightmare come to life. He had never been on the same level as Itachi in the past, so the odds that he would be able to beat him when he returned in the future were slim.

Maybe, just maybe, if Sasuke wasn't a shinobi, then his brother wouldn't bother. After all, what was the point in coming back and killing a civilian?

There were flaws in that logic - Itachi had killed civilians as well as shinobi when he massacred the clan - but Sasuke was so tired of death and blood and violence. He had gotten enough of that in one night. No more.

When the Sandaime came to his hospital room in order to check up on him, Sasuke told him of his desire to withdraw from the Academy, and then he took a week to mourn his family before he put any thought to his future goals. He had spent so long chasing Itachi's back that not having a goal made him feel aimless, like a fallen leaf floating in a pond. He needed to do something - anything - or he might go as mad as his brother. He had money, although, he wasn't sure how much, just that it was enough that he didn't need to find a job right away, so Sasuke signed up for the civilian school closest to the Uchiha district.

Going to school with civilians was awkward. No one wanted to talk to him because they all knew his family had been killed at the hands of his brother, and he struggled with subjects that weren't covered in the Academy, like literature and science. Of course, Sasuke worked best under pressure, and those two classes became his favorites. He used what he learned in the science class to take care of his garden and discovered a deep joy in helping plants grow.

Three years after the massacre, Sasuke had converted as much spare ground as he could find into garden, growing everything from fruits and vegetables to flowers and trees. Of course, that was when he got into a fist fight with some blond-haired, blue-eyed, whiskered kid over the last packet of sunflower seeds and ended up inviting him over to stay for a while.

Sasuke would never be the paragon of a shinobi that his brother was, but he found peace in his plants, and, to him, that was far more important.


End file.
